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Prince George Airport (CYXS) is the principal aerodrome serving Prince George, British Columbia, sitting on a bench of high ground on the southeastern edge of the city. It is a busy regional hub with a very long primary runway and full ILS approach, reflecting its origins as a key link in the wartime Northwest Staging Route to Alaska. For a simulator pilot it offers a mix of scheduled airline traffic, general aviation movements, and a rich piece of North American aviation history to explore.
Prince George Airport (ICAO CYXS, IATA YXS) serves the city of Prince George in north-central British Columbia and is operated by the Prince George Airport Authority. It handles scheduled services to Vancouver, Calgary and Victoria with Air Canada Express, WestJet Encore, Central Mountain Air and Pacific Coastal Airlines, along with charter and general aviation traffic. The field is notable to simulator pilots for its exceptionally long main runway, its full ILS, and its history as a strategic stopover on the wartime air route to Alaska.
The airport lies within the southern boundary of the city of Prince George, on a bench of high ground roughly 3 miles southeast of the city centre. It is classified as an airport of entry, staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency, and is served by Prince George Tower during its hours of operation, with Prince George Radio providing a mandatory frequency advisory service outside those hours. Vancouver Control provides an enroute PAL service in the surrounding airspace.
Prince George has three physical runways, all hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 15/33 is the primary strip at 11,432 ft, with an ILS serving runway 15; this pairs with the 10,934 ft reciprocal on runway 33. Runway 06/24 measures 5,425 ft on the 06 threshold against 5,193 ft on 24. The shortest pair, runway 01/19, offers 3,403 ft on 01 and 3,388 ft on 19. Field elevation is 2,234 ft.
Prince George Tower operates on 118.3 MHz from 14-07Z; outside those hours the same frequency, 118.3 MHz, is used as the Mandatory Frequency for Prince George Radio, 07-14Z, applicable within 5 nm below 5,500 ft ASL. Ground movements are handled by Prince George Ground on 121.9 MHz, 14-07Z. ATIS and AWOS information is broadcast on 128.725 MHz, with ATIS covering 14-07Z and AWOS 07-14Z. Vancouver Control provides an enroute PAL service on 133.8 MHz. Remote communications outlets are available on 118.3 MHz for Williams Lake Radio (07-14Z), 122.1 MHz for Pacific Radio (FISE) and 126.7 MHz for Prince George Radio (FISE). The airport is equipped with an ILS serving runway 15.
During tower hours (14-07Z), arriving and departing traffic operates under full ATC control on 118.3 MHz, with ground movements coordinated separately on 121.9 MHz. Outside these hours, 118.3 MHz becomes the Mandatory Frequency for Prince George Radio, applicable within 5 nm of the field below 5,500 ft ASL, requiring pilots to report positions and intentions to maintain separation with other traffic.
An airport at Prince George has existed since 1920, when the original field occupied what later became a bypass highway through the town. A second airport was built in 1932 near the junction of Highway 97 and Highway 16, close to Carney Hill, and saw substantial American traffic bound for Alaska in the years before the United States entered the Second World War, including Douglas B-18 and Martin B-10 aircraft; it closed for good on March 31, 1944. The present airport, the third on the Prince George site, was contracted in late 1940 by Canada's Department of National Defence as part of the Northwest Staging Route, a chain of airfields agreed by the Canadian-American Permanent Joint Board of Defence to allow rapid deployment of aircraft, men and supplies to northwestern Canada and Alaska. Built on a bench of high ground southeast of the city, the new airport included staff housing, a power plant, a Pan American World Airways radio range station and, by 1944, a larger Department of Transport administration and radio range terminal. Pan Am began stopover operations on its Seattle to Fairbanks route after runway 14/32 (now 15/33) was completed in 1941, ferrying men and equipment for the US Navy, while the United States Army Air Forces built extensive facilities from 1942 for its own staff and for the Royal Canadian Air Force, including an Army Airways Communication Station and a detachment of the Eleventh Air Force's 1452nd Base Unit, part of the Air Transport Command supporting the Alaska supply route. The completed airport, spanning 2,034 acres with three runways arranged in a triangle, was finished on August 9, 1945. Canadian Pacific Air Lines began scheduled services into Prince George in 1942 and its successors continued to serve the field for decades afterward.
Prince George Airport remains a scheduled regional hub, operated by the Prince George Airport Authority, with terminal hours of 3:30am to 12:30am. It continues to handle Air Canada Express, WestJet Encore, Central Mountain Air and Pacific Coastal Airlines services to Vancouver, Calgary and Victoria, plus seasonal WestJet flights to Puerto Vallarta, alongside charter and general aviation movements. As a designated airport of entry with Canada Border Services Agency staffing, it can accommodate aircraft carrying up to 30 passengers, or 120 if unloaded in stages.
